Once at Green-Wood Chapel I attended a concert where a singer songwriter performed something he'd written about St. Joseph of Cupertino, the flying saint. Having grown up on Sally Field as The Flying Nun, I was familiar with this archetype even if, as most children of the modern age, I'd heard little about people who could fly besides witches on their broomsticks.
Much was comic in the life of St. Joseph, there was plenty for those witches to cackle about, not least the fact that he was considered slow witted, inspiring the ire of all those scholastically gifted brothers who in spite of their intellect had not been gifted with flight. It is said that St. Joseph would give a characteristic shriek when the spirit seized him and threw him aloft, tossing him in front of the crucifix like a nerf ball. On occasion he was known to grab whoever was near him and drag them along for the ride.
St. Joseph is considered the patron Saint of those of us who are students, that is, those who are eternally incomplete and complete in their irregularity, unfinished, awkward, half-learned, hopelessly comical, transparent.
Angels and Accordions in Green-Wood is Oct 10th this year, just got the post card. More here.
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